Babysitting Marchwarden
by Hissa Slysley
Summary: Uncle Orophin is entrusted with babysitting little Aini. It turns out to be a bit more of a challenge than he had expected; curious and insightful Aini keeps him on his toes.


Aini looked up at Orophin, smiling brightly. "Pretty pictures!" She pointed at the book, which happened to have an illustration of Caras Galadhon itself open at the moment. "Ada, Naneth home."  
  
Smiling happily down to her, he nodded as she pointed to the picture. "Aye, Aini. It's Caras Galadhon..." He didn't expect for her to be able to pronounce the city, but perhaps the more she heard it the quicker her bright mind would pick it up... and she'd be saying it in no time.  
  
She moved over, crawling into Orophin's lap as she dragged the book over. "Read to me?"  
  
Grinning a little, Orophin quickly scooped her up in his lap, nodding his head as he positioned the book open in her lap. Looking down to the words, he began to read to her, in a soft whisper, but not so soft that she couldn't hear. "Caras Galadhon is the tree-city of the Galadhrim; the seat of Celeborn and Galadriel in the realm of Lórien." Carefully taking her hand in his, he guided it to grip the page and slowly turn it to the next. She smiled up at him, resting her head against his chest so she could hear his heart beat. "Keep going."  
  
Orophin was obviously impressed with the amount of words she knew at such a young age, and didn't hide his pride in his niece at all. One might think she was his own child with how he bragged on her whenever given the opportunity. Now upon the page there were various drawings of elves, the setting apparently being in Lothlorien. "The Galadhrim are the 'tree- people'; the Silvan Elves of the land of Lórien."  
  
"Ada!" She pointed to one of the pictured Marchwardens, tapping the picture. "Ada mucharden!"  
  
Laughing a little as she pointed excitedly to the picture of her Father, he nodded his head. "Yes... That's your Ada. Rumil en Lórien..."  
  
She touched the picture gently, frowning a bit. "Ada gone..."  
  
Frowning a little as she frowned, Orophin set the book aside for a moment and hugged her close"Ada will be back later."  
  
She sighed faintly and snuggled up to him. "Naneth gone..."  
  
Orophin wasn't exactly sure how to respond to her mentioning her Naneth. He wasn't quite sure where Sanya had gone off riding to, or when she'd be back. "Naneth will be back too, little Aini... don't you fret."  
  
She looked up at Orophin. "Orcs try kill Ada."  
  
"Orcs can't kill your father." Orophin smirked a little bit. "He's my brother. He's invincible. Even though I got the more... strong, handsome, durable side of the gene pool..."  
  
She looked up at him, his vocabulary surpassing her. "Orcs nasty."  
  
"Orcs very nasty..." he agreed, nodding his head and holding her close, almost protectively as he said the word "Orcs". Little did Aini know, she and her mother were both almost murdered because of an attack of Uruk-hai.  
  
"Me no like Orcs... Kill Orcs!" She made a little fist, punching the air a bit. "Nasties!" Unable to help but laugh at her little punches and enthusiastic Orc-bashing cries, he grinned a little bit. - "Seems someone inherited something from their mother after all."  
  
Aini smiled. "Kill Orcs! Nasties!" She got up, rising and toddling over to where there was a big shield with two blades on the wall and reached up for it. "Get orcs!"  
  
Getting up soon after he saw where her destination was, he scooping her up and walked over to a wooden chair in the corner of the room, carved in an obviously elven fashion as the writing across the top was elven. "No getting Orcs today, Aini..."  
  
She pouted, though she snuggled him tightly. "Orcs scary... Bad dreams."  
  
"What bad dreams, Aini?" he asked curiously, holding her close in a comforting manner. "Orcs kill Ada, Naneth. Burn trees."  
  
Patting the top of her head gently, Orophin sighed a little. "Orcs will never kill Ada or Naneth... nor burn trees."  
  
: Aini looked up at Orophin, far more clear understanding in her eyes than any elfling her age should have. "Might. Yes, might."  
  
Orophin wasn't sure how Aini knew so much about the Orcs, but it somewhat bothered him. "They won't, Aini. You and your family... this forest is well protected."  
  
"Bad dreams... Fire, dark." She rest her head on his chest, her ear over his heart.  
  
Orophin wasn't sure how to recover from her pointing out there was darkness in the world... the sort of darkness little elflings shouldn't know about. "No darkness or fire will come to harm you, Aini. You needn't worry."  
  
"Ada, Naneth... you!" She scrunched up her nose, hugging him close. Nobody knew the extent of what Aini's dreams had entailed, as she didn't have to speaking ability to share them or the capacity to understand what it all meant. All she knew was that her parents didn't have the little thump in their chest like they should.  
  
Smiling a little bit as she hugged him close, and held her comfortingly. "Everyone is alright, Aini. It was just a dream... Orcs won't bother you, me, Ada or Naneth."  
  
She nodded, closing her eyes with a sleepy little yawn. Once her Ada came home she'd perk up, but in the meantime the beat of Orophin's heart was putting her to sleep.  
  
Carefully scooping her up in his arms, Orophin began to bring Aini over to the little bed he and Rumil had made for her together. "Time for a nap, Aini..."  
  
She clung to him like a baby monkey, so he couldn't put her down. "No, no bed."  
  
"You need your rest Aini. If I read you more of the story you promise to try and go to sleep?" he inquired, smiling a little bit as he walked back over to the center of the room, where they had been, picked up the book, and began to head back over to the little bed. "No bed! Sleep here..." She pulled on his shirt, indicating that she wanted to sleep in his lap instead of sleeping alone in the bed.  
  
She snuggled up against him again, closing her eyes as she let his voice lull her to sleep. Finishing off a page as he noticed she had started to fall asleep... he grinned a little as the finishing page was in fact the last. "Lórien is a woodland kingdom of the Silvan Elves on the western banks of the River Anduin; Galadriel and Celeborn came there in the Third Age, and ruled it after the loss of its ancient lord, Amroth."  
  
She perked at the mention of Amroth, looking up at Orophin. "Dol Amroth!"  
  
Smiling, he shook his head. "Dol Amroth is a headland of western Gondor, ruled as a hereditary princedom by the descendants of Galador during the last millennium of the Third Age," he explained, smirking. "Amroth is a former Lord of Lórien; he went into the south in search of Nimrodel, and was lost at sea. After his departure, Celeborn and Galadriel became Lord and Lady of Lórien. "  
  
She wrinkled her nose, not understanding a word he said. So, instead, she perked up with cheerful, "Gadriel!"  
  
"Ah yes... Youngest child, and only daughter, of Finarfin of the Noldor, the Lady of Lothlorien." Orophin grinned a little bit, looking down to Aini. "Has little Aini met our Lady before?"  
  
Aini shook her head. She hadn't gone far from the talan, as Sanya never took her anywhere and Rumil took her to the forest alone.  
  
"I'm sure Ada and Naneth will bring you to see her someday..." Orophin assured her, nodding his head. "After all, you're the daughter of a Marchwarden." 


End file.
